The present invention relates generally to integrated circuit cooling systems, and more specifically to integrated circuit cooling systems employing heat pipes.
Integrated circuit technology continues to advance at a rapid rate. Advancements include increases in integrated circuit die density which allows for ever-increasing amounts of circuitry in any given die size, and also include increases in speeds at which integrated circuits operate. Higher integrated circuit die densities and increased integrated circuit speeds combine to increase the computational speed in computers and other electronic devices.
Along with increased density and speed of integrated circuit devices comes increased power consumption. State-of-the-art integrated circuits can consume considerable amounts of power, much of which gets dissipated as heat. The problem of increased heat dissipation is exacerbated by the fact that as integrated circuit dice shrink, the amount of heat to be dissipated per unit area of integrated circuit die increases.
Heat is typically dissipated from integrated circuit dice through packages in which they are housed. A surface area of the integrated circuit die is typically thermally bonded to a part of the package for the purpose of dissipating heat from the die. The use of a heat pipe is one known mechanism for transferring heat away from an integrated circuit. A description of a heat pipe can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,524, issued May 9, 1999 to Hong Xie.
As integrated circuit densities continue to increase, and the associated quantities of heat also increase, the problem of transferring heat away from integrated circuits becomes even more difficult.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for an alternate method and apparatus to efficiently transfer heat.